


Beta-Carotene

by yeaka



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 22:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21278753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Noctis is acting weird.





	Beta-Carotene

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Final Fantasy XV or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

It’s not _wildly_ unusually for Noctis to be short with him. It’s not nearly as bad as when Noctis was a teenager, but he still has his moments. University is far more stressful than high school ever was, and Ignis is twice as _on him_ about it, so it’s not unheard of for Noctis to avoid Ignis completely on nights where he has homework. But when Ignis arrives in the evening with a bag full of vegetables and a dinner plan of noodles and homemade pasta sauce littered with healthy chunks of carrots and zucchini, Noctis is particularly difficult. He disappears the second Ignis shows up, doesn’t come out of his room, and when Ignis _insists_ on coming in to see if it’s clean, Noctis all but bolts past him into the living room.

After a thorough inspection of Noctis’ astounding bedroom, Ignis trails out into the living space. Slumped against the couch, Noctis straightens as soon as he sees Ignis. His cheeks are a bright red, his eyes wide, but then he coughs and averts his gaze. He mutters, “Clean enough?”

It’s _conspicuously_ clean. There’s not a hair out of place. Noctis’ bedroom is _never_ fully clean. It’s ridiculously suspicious, but Ignis can’t do anything but answers, “Yes, actually.”

“Great,” Noctis mumbles. He shoots up and races back. Ignis follows after him and catches the door before Noctis can slam it shut.

Noctis swallows. Ignis looks down at him and asks, “Why in the _world_ are you acting so... cagey?”

“I’m not cagey,” Noctis grunts defensively.

“You are. Something’s obvious wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Noctis, I’ve known you since you were practically a fetus. Tell me what’s going on.”

Noctis stares at him for an uncomfortably long moment. Ignis doesn’t back down. Finally, Noctis sighs and hangs his head. He shakes it and begrudgingly admits, “I, uh... had a dream.”

“Marvelous. So do all of us.”

“No, it... it was about you.”

Ignis frowns. He regularly dreams about Noctis. Most of his friends appear frequently in them, but Noctis the most, because Noctis is the person he’s closest to, the person he cares about the most, and the person who all but consumes his every waking thought. It never effects how he interacts with Noctis in real life. 

Noctis slowly mumbles, “You, uh... you put a carrot up my butt.”

Ignis blinks.

“What?”

“You brought me a bunch of carrots and told me to eat them, but I didn’t want to, so you said that you’d put every carrot I didn’t eat up the other end. But I still didn’t want to eat the carrot. So you bent me over the table, and... uh...”

Ignis... doesn’t know what to say. Now he knows why Noctis has been blushing all night. He might actually be blushing too. He should instantly drop the subject. But somehow, he winds up blurting out, “I would never hurt you like that, Noct.”

“No, you, uh... didn’t hurt me... there was lube and... stuff...”

Ignis’ face is an _inferno._

Noctis adds, “It was one of those weird dream-logic things where you said I was going to get the vitamins one way or another.”

“That isn’t how vitamins work.”

“I know.”

There’s a long, hefty pause where they should both really back off but don’t. Ignis is desperately trying not to picture it. He doesn’t know how to feel. He’s too dazed and horrified to process anything. Somehow, Ignis winds up asking, “So... did you eat any of them? The carrots.”

Noctis quietly answers, “No.”

“So they all...”

“Yeah.”

“I would never do that to you.”

“I know.”

The stare-off continues. Ignis feels compelled to say, “I’m sorry.”

“S’okay.”

That doesn’t sound at all okay. He feels like he traumatized his prince, and also himself in the process. Except Noctis’ brain is the one who conjured up that nonsense, and Noctis is the one who brought it up in the light of day. _Noctis_ traumatized _him._

The stove timer goes off. The carrots are cooked. 

Ignis mumbles, “Okay,” and swiftly backs up to go change their dinner plans.


End file.
